Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday evening issued a press release announcing they have received a letter that details the “sexual preferences” of the third woman to accuse Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Talking Points Memo appears to be the first news outlet to report on the letter.

Ordinarily, Senators and their aides would not make public (though, perhaps, might leak) something so personal and salacious, but Chairman Chuck Grassley (photo, left) has allowed the statement, a letter from a man who says he is a former Democratic candidate for Congress, to be published online.

It is unclear if the letter writer, Dennis Ketterer, intended for his remarks to be made public, although he says he went to his church leaders who put him in touch with Senator Orrin Hatch (photo, right). Hatch later tweeted out the statement.

The Committee included excerpts from Ketterer’s very personal signed letter, and a link to a full online copy, in its press statement. That statement appears on the official website of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

“During a conversation about our sexual preferences,” Ketterer writes, “things got derailed when Julie told me that she liked to have sex with more than one guy at a time. In fact sometimes with several at one time. She wanted to know if that would be ok in our relationship,” he adds, saying this happened in 1993, when he was married.

“I asked her if this was just a fantasy of hers. She responded that she first tried sex with multiple guys while in high school and still liked it from time-to-time. She brought it up because she wanted to know if I would be interested in that,” he also says.

To be clear, there is nothing illegal about what Ketterer is describing. Nor is there anything particularly out of the ordinary. According to a 2017 study, 10% of women and 18% of men have had a threesome.

The only reason the letter is being made public is to try to discredit and demean Swetnick. The publication of the letter by the 11 powerful Republican men on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee serves no other purpose.

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